The most commonly available coin dispensers have a basic structure like that found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,893 to Gretel C. Mangigian, which issued Dec. 7, 1993. Such dispensers use a crescent-shaped ledge at the top of each chamber, opposite an ejection opening, to retain the coins. Each chamber typically contains a plate-like follower over a compression spring for pushing a stack of coins upward against the ledge. This thin follower will tilt easily with pressure from a user's finger. The crescent-shaped ledge leaves the face of the top or outermost coin exposed for finger contact, and still retains the follower from ejecting when it is tilted.
However, the crescent-shaped ledge limits the contact of the user's finger to only the face of the coin. Sweaty fingers or dirty coins, which stick together, can easily prevent dependable ejection of the coins. The ledge, being opposite the opening, often directs more finger pressure toward the opening side of the chamber. This causes the follower and coins to tilt down on the opening side of the chamber when the user tries to remove a coin. When the bottom surface of the outermost coin tilts below the bottom surface of the opening, the coin is blocked from ejecting. As the stack of coins gets taller, the tilting problem is reduced because the friction between the coins resists the tilting of the coins, and the stack itself then acts like a thick follower. This is a reason why so many available dispensers hold a large quantity of coins like Mangigian's dispenser. Such a unit, when fully loaded, would not only be too bulky, but also too heavy to be comfortable in a user's pocket.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,235,910, which issued Aug. 7, 1917 to Edgar F. Miller, the obstructing ledge and tilting follower problems were solved by using thick cup-shaped, and therefore tiltless, followers in the coin chambers. These cup-shaped followers also add undesired bulk to the dispenser. Both Mangigian's dispenser and Miller's dispenser have their thinnest overall dimension thicker than the diameter of the largest coin which they hold.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,334,016, which issued Nov. 9, 1943 to Richards L. Loesch, describes a pocket size coin dispenser that has the crescent-shaped ledge on the opening or slot side of each coin chamber. This helps a user's finger start an outermost coin into the slot. But the coin may still tilt down opposite the slot, pulling its edge away from an ejecting finger. This makes it difficult to eject a coin through its exit slot. Also, the slot-sided ledge is an obstruction in the direct path of the user's pushing finger. This causes the ejecting coin to stop before it is completely separated from the dispenser.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,321, which issued Jun. 25, 1991 to Anders B. Benson, shows a pocket carried coin dispenser with two opposing ledges over each coin chamber which are parallel to a coin's path through its opening. This leaves some finger access to the edge of the outermost coin, opposite the opening, for pushing out the coin. These ledges protrude far toward the center of their coin chamber, and therefore help to retain the plate-like follower when it is tilted. The more these ledges cover the top coin, the more they obstruct the user's finger. With Benson's dispenser the coins can still tilt their edges away from an ejecting finger.
Another disadvantage of the pocket size dispensers of Loesch and Benson is that they have flat bottoms and small radii between their bottoms and sides. These bottom corners are easily visible through a user's clothing pocket, and make their dispenser uncomfortable to keep in a pocket.
A further disadvantage of all of the aforementioned patents is that none of them have a provision that allows a user to view the entire coin content of the dispenser. This prevents the user from counting the coins without removing them.